The Past Always Catches Up With You
by mysterylover14
Summary: Another one of the Jules is Kim fanfics :) Jules and her team are on duty on a Saturday night when Jules gets a call from her best friend. Something is very wrong, and the team responds, leading the the unraveling of Jules' past.
1. Chapter 1

Setting: Saturday evening, SRU Headquarters

A/N: This story is set 3 months after Lou died and Leah joined the team.

The Saturday shift went by painstakingly slow. SRU's Team One was on duty, and they were not thrilled to be there, but were making the best of their time. Things started looking up when Sam Braddock, a former member of the team who moved away two months prior to help his sister raise her child, came by to visit. Things started looking up for everyone except for his ex-girlfriend, Juliana Callahan.

"Sam!" Spike cried when he saw his former teammate. A chorus of "Hi!" and "What're you doing here?" sounded from the rest of the team.

"Hey everyone!" Sam said, hugging his friends. "My sister's best friend from childhood is visiting her, so I decided to take a break from helping her and come see you all."

Sam hugged everyone, but when he got to Jules, the two froze for a second.

"Hi, Jules," Sam said, staring at his ex. Jules smiled and gave him a hug; an awkward hug, but a hug.

When the weirdness was over, the team got to chatting. It was getting closer to night and the team was getting antsy.

Jules was getting particularly antsy because of texts she was getting. The team noticed every time her phone would bing, but no one said anything about it at first. Eventually, Wordy asked, "Who is sending you all of these texts?"

Jules groaned and threw her head back. "Jason won't leave me alone."

Everyone on the team knew Jason was Jules' best friend, practically her brother. The two of them grew up together and about a year after Jules moved to Toronto, Jason moved up here too and opened a karate studio.

"Why won't he leave you alone?" Ed asked. Jules was hesitant but told her team why.

"Some of my old friends from high school are getting together tonight and he wants me to come."

"If you want to go, we can cover for you," Leah supplied.

"But I don't want to go," Jules said. "I love my friends, but we didn't really part on good terms. And I do NOT feel like dealing with that right now."

"Is that why you never talk about your friends from high school? Or about anything from that time?" asked Wordy.

Spike cocked his head in thought. "I never really noticed that, but Wordy is right for once. I don't think I have ever heard you talk about high school or anything."

Wordy punched Spike in the shoulder and the two started mock-fighting. Sam calmed them down and then turned to Jules.

"What happened?"

Jules, who clearly did not want to talk about it, puffed out her cheeks. When the guys and Leah didn't stop staring, she caved and blew the air out. "Most of them stopped talking to me because they think I did something that I didn't do. But it's fine, I don't really care that much anymore. I just don't want to have to dive into that tonight."

All of a sudden, Jules' phone started ringing. She picked it up and closed her eyes when she saw that it was Jason calling.

"Just answer it and tell him to stop trying to get you to go," Serge told her.

Jules answered the phone and started protesting, "Jason, I know you want me to go tonight, but I already told you-"

She stopped talking for a second. The team couldn't hear what Jason was saying.

"I'm at the office with the team. Why?"

Jules pulled the phone from her ear, confused. She put it on speaker while saying, "Jason wanted to talk to you guys or something."

The voice that came out of the phone next was not Jason's.

"Hello, Juliana."

Jules stiffened up and she turned to look at Serge. The two shared a panicked expression and Jules turned back to the phone. "I swear to God, if you hurt them, I will end you."

Everyone on Team one looked around at each other in confusion, except for Serge, who took a step closer to Jules.

"Oh, Juliana, I cannot promise anything," the voice on the other end of the phone said.

"What do you want?" Jules asked, a pained expression on her face.

"Do you know where we are?" the voice asked.

"Yes."

"Get here in ten minutes or I will start hurting your friends. Maybe I should start with Jason. Or maybe your blonde friend, what's her name… Kat? Or maybe I'll just have to start with the one that might hurt the most. Tommy."

Jules closed her eyes tight as if trying to imagine away the current situation. "Please, don't hurt any of them."

"That is all dependent on you. Oh, and I'd hurry if I were you."

The line went dead.

"What the hell is going on?" Ed asked, partially shouting.

Jules composed herself and turned to Serge. "We have to go now."

Serge nodded. "Alright everyone, we have a hostage situation. Grab your gear and let's go."

Ed held his hands up. "No one answered my question. And where are we going?"

"The bar on Cedar St." Jules said, avoiding the first question.

Sam stepped in. "Can I come?"

Serge hesitated. "I know you are not going to let us leave without you and we don't have time for arguments. But you better stay in the command truck once we get there. Deal?" Sam nodded and the team went to gear up.

When everyone had piled into the cars, Jules said over the coms, "I know all of you are confused and I promise I will explain everything later, but right now what you need to know is that he will try to get you to turn against me. Yes, there are things that I haven't told you, but I am the same Jules that you have always known. Don't let him get into your head."

There was a pause before Jules added, "I love you all. You are my family." No one said anything else until they got to the bar.

When they arrived, they got out of their cars and set up command and made an entrance plan: Jules would be the negotiator and Wordy and Leah would go in as her back-up. Spike would try to enter from the back as a surprise. Ed would try to find a vantage point to set up his sniper rifle. Serge and Sam would stay in the command truck. Serge had called the local police before they left and a couple officers were on their way to assist.

Jules, Wordy, and Leah approached the building. Jules pulled out her phone and dialed Jason.

The mystery man answered the phone. "My dear, I hope for your friends' sake that you are here."

"I am right outside. Can I come in?" Jules said calmly.

"Yes. I am ready and anxious for your arrival. It has been too long."

"Jules, you don't have to do this," Serge's voice sounded over the coms.

Jules sighed. "Yes, I do."

With that, Jules opened the door and entered the restaurant, followed by her back-up.

When they rounded the corner, Jules saw her old friends sitting at a giant table in the middle of the otherwise empty restaurant. They all turned to look at her, shock on all of their faces except for Jason and his girlfriend, Kat. A man stood at the far end of the table with a gun. When he saw Jules walk in, a maniac look spread across his face.

"Juliana! It is so good to see you."

Jules and her backup stepped closer until the man waived his gun in the air.

"I would stop there if you don't want anything to happen to your friends."

Jules kept her face on the man but turned her eyes to Jason. "Is everyone ok?"

Jason nodded. "Relatively speaking."

The man took notice of Wordy and Leah on either side of Jules with their guns pointed at him.

"I did not say you could bring anyone with you. But since you are all here, welcome to the party!"

Jules stayed calm and turned her eyes back to the man. "Carter, let everyone go. They have nothing to do with this."

"On the contrary," the man, Carter, said. "They have everything to do with this."

Jules paused. "What do you want?"

"Well, you see, 15 years ago I would have said I want you all to myself. Actually, I believe I did say that. And when you left, all I

wanted to do was to get you back." Carter paused. "But I spent 15 long years looking for you. That is enough time to change a person's intentions. Now, I just want to make you suffer for not doing what I said. That is why I'm here now."

Jules digested the information thrown at her. "How did you find me?"

Carter chuckled. "It was easy, actually. I mean, I was so stupid at first, checking any city and town that you have ever been to in your

life. But last year I stopped and decided to look at the last place I knew you were. And when I saw your coach send a package to a Greg Parker on your birthday, I figured that might be something important. So I checked it out and saw that your coach sent a package every year to the same person on your birthday. So I came up here, and I found you."

"But it is June now. My birthday is in February."

"It is?" came Sam's voice over the coms.

"Yes, I found you all of those months ago. Did you really not know? I planned such a good present for you. I know you got it, you just never realized it was me." Carted said. "How upsetting that you didn't recognize my work. Well, now you know."

Jules said nothing, confused about what she just heard.

Carter threw his head back and laughed. "I'm sorry, I cannot do this anymore."

"Do what? Hold these people hostage? Yes, I think you should let them go too," Jules said, wary of Carter's intentions.

Carter stared straight into Jules' eye and said, "No, I can't keep up this charade you have going, silly Juliana. Or should I say, Kimberly?"

Wordy and Leah faltered for a second, which Carter happily picked up on.

"Oh, your team doesn't know?" asked Carter, who then looked at both Wordy and Leah and all around them, as if trying to speak to other team members who weren't there. "Her real name is Kimberly Anne Hart and she's been lying to you about who she for as long as you've known her."

"What is going on?" Sam asked over the coms. Jules, or Kim, heard Serge shush him.

Knowing she needed to get in front of this so Carted wouldn't turn her team against her, Kim said, "Yes, I lied to my team. But I did it to protect everyone from you." She was starting to lose her cool.

Carter giggled like a child. "Struck a nerve, have I?"

"I'm done playing your games, Carter. Tell me what I need to do to get you to leave my friends and my team alone."

Carter thought for a second. "Hmmmmm. Honestly, I am having too much fun watching you squirm right now."

"Too bad you're done," said a voice behind Carter. Carter spun with his gun pointed but before he could do anything, Spike punched him in the face. Spike had come in through the back and had been silently approaching throughout the whole conversation. Carter fell to the ground and Spike knelt down to cuff him. Wordy and Leah rushed forwards, guns aimed at Carter just in case he tried anything. Kim let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding and slowly walked towards Carter, who was being hauled up by Spike.

"Carter. You are under arrest for harassment, stalking, attempted murder and homicide," Kim said with a stone face. "Take him away."

Spike, Wordy, and Leah lead Carter towards the door where Serge and Sam had come in with a local police officer. Spike read Carter his Miranda Rights then passed him off to the police officer. (A/N I know that Canada doesn't use miranda rights but that is all I know so go with it).

"You need me!" Carter yelled as he was being walked to the cop. "I am the nephew!"

Kim hadn't moved since telling her team to take Carter away. Jason went up to her and opened his arms. She melted into his arms and started crying. He held her tight, trying to calm her down. The rest of her friends from high school were all still confused and did not know what to do, so they stayed in their seats. Her team, half preoccupied with Carter, took notice of her crying, also still in confusion.

Kim let go of Jason and wiped away her tears when her phone started buzzing. She looked at the screen and a puzzled look crossed her face. She looked up at Jason before answering the phone.

"Hello?" she said into the phone. No one could hear who the other person was or what they were saying, but the color drained out of Kim's face. She turned to where Carter was being handed off to the local police and shouted, "Wait!"

She said "I'll call you right back," into the phone and then marched towards Carter.

"Where are they?"

Carter had a sly grin on his face as he said, "I could not possibly know who you mean."

"The twins. Where are they?" Kim said, more forcefully.

"Well," Carter started, "Wherever they are, you better find them soon. They might not have been given any supplies like food or water." There was a glint of evil in his eyes.

Kim restrained herself from punching him in the face. "Tell me what you did with them."

Carter shrugged. "I might remember something about them if you told these men to let me go."

Kim found it harder and harder not to sock him in the jaw, but she held her resolve. "They were your back-up plan. In case things went south for you here."

Carter shrugged again.

Kim shut her eyes tight for a few seconds and then turned to the cop. "Get him out of here."

Carter's eyes widened and he was being dragged away. "You need me! You'll come crawling to me soon enough! I am the nephew!"

As soon as Carter was out the front door, Kim turned started to turn when Serge asked, "What's wrong?"

"Pierre called. Carter took Max and Lily," Kim said, walking to the other side of the room where there weren't as many people. She dialed a number and started talking with someone.

The rest of the room was highly confused. "Who are Max and Lily?" Wordy asked.

"And who'se Pierre?" Sam asked.

Serge, Jason, and Kat shared worried looks. "Pierre is her Step-Father. Max and Lily are her brother and sister," Serge said to the team and the former hostages.

"Technically they are her half-brother and half-sister. They are twins," Jason corrected.

"And this psychopath took them?" Spike asked.

Kim got off the phone and walked over to everyone. "Carter sent Pierre a letter saying that he took the twins. He also took their babysitter. Carter sent a picture of the three of them as proof. Pierre is sending me pictures of everything."

"Where were Pierre and your mom when this happened?" Kat asked.

Kim sighed. "My mom is visiting an old friend in California. Pierre was on a business trip that got rescheduled at the last minute for the same time as Mom's trip. Their babysitter was watching them. Pierre just got home, found the letter, and called me."

Kim was clearly upset but was trying to put on a brave face. Serge noticed.

"Jules, everything is going to be ok," he said, to which he received an angry look.

"Is it, Serge? The twins are only 12! They are not a part of this! I've never even met them! As far as I know, they don't even know I exist! And now he has them!" Kim exploded. After a second she regained her composure. "Sorry, Serge, I just cannot stand the thought of those two innocent kids getting hurt because of me."

Before anyone could say anything, Kim's phone dinged. She opened the text message from Pierre with pictures attached. Her team crowded around her to see the message while her friends from high school stood around, still not totally sure what to do.

Kim finished reading the letter and started looking at the picture of Lily, Max, and their babysitter. The three of them had their hands tied in front of themselves and had gags in their mouths. The two kids seemed to be trying to huddle up to their babysitter.

"They look so scared," Kim said. But then something caught her eye: the babysitter's wrist.

"Jason," Kim started. "Come here and tell me if you see what I see."

The team backed up to let Jason see the phone. She pointed to the girl's wrist in the photo. "Why does this look familiar?"

Jason looked from the picture then up to Tommy, who was standing in the middle their old friends. He subtly pointed to Tommy's wrist and said, "Look."

Kim looked at Tommy then up at Jason in shock. She snapped her head back to Tommy and called, "Tommy! Come here."

Tommy, who before this night hadn't seen the woman calling him over in over a decade, walked over to his former girlfriend.

"Um… What?" Tommy said, not totally sure how to interact with her.

"What is the name of your yellow?" Kim asked as she pointed to his wrist, where he still wore his Dino Thunder Morpher.

Unsure of the reason for the question, Tommy cautiously answered, "Kira. Kira Ford."

Kim turned the phone to him. "That is what Pierre said their babysitter's name is."

Tommy took in the picture: the two children, the terrified looks on their faces, his former ranger teammate, and her look of anger at the camera.

"Wh-?" Tommy tried asking but did not know what exactly to ask.

Kim put down the phone. "Can you track her?"

Tommy shook out of his daze. "I think so. I have to make a call." Tommy walked over to where Kim had made the call to Pierre.

Ed stepped forward in protest. "What is he doing?"

Kim turned towards her team leader. "He might have a way of finding the twins and their babysitter."

"How?" Ed asked.

"The babysitter used to be a student of Tommy's," Jason said.

"And he can track her?!" Leah asked in concern.

"I know that sounds creepy but I swear it's not," Kim tried to fix the situation. She looked down for a couple seconds before looking at her team again. "I know a lot has been thrown at you tonight, and I promise I will explain everything. To everyone," Kim turned to her old friends on that statement. "But right now, finding Lily, Max, and Kira is more important."

Tommy ended his call and walked over to the group. "Ethan, my blue, is currently tracking her… bracelet, and will text me with a location."

"How long should that take?" Kim asked.

"It should take only a minute or two," Tommy supplied.

Kim took a couple steps back so that she could look at everyone in the room without having to turn in circles. She readied herself and said, "I will explain everything to you all tomorrow. You all deserve to know the truth, and I'm sorry I haven't told most of you it. But I have my reasons and… and I'm sorry. For everything that has come from the craziness that is Carter."

No one said anything until Jason moved to stand next to Kim and face everyone. "Everyone come to my Karate studio tomorrow at 10am. Jules… Kim can explain then. I promise you it is a good explanation. "

Tommy's phone buzzed and his face lit up. "Ethan just sent me Kira's location."

Kim looked at Serge, who shared a nod with her. She turned towards her old friends. "You all need to stay here and give my team witness statements about what happened tonight. I know you don't understand everything, just do what you can. Serge and I are going to find the twins and Kira." She and Serge started walking to the door.

"I'm coming," Tommy said.

Kim stopped in her tracks and turned her head back to Tommy, and she could tell it was not a request. She nodded. "Ok. Let's go."

"I want to come," Sam said.

"Sam, stay here with the team," Kim said, still walking away. "Please."

Sam looked a little annoyed as Kim, Serge, and Tommy walked out of the building.

A/N: Hi! I hope you enjoyed the first bit of the story. I know some things are cryptic, but explanations will happen in coming chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

The trio got to one of the cars and sat down, Serge in the driver's seat, Kim in the passenger seat, and Tommy in the back. Tommy gave them the location Kira's morpher was pinging at. Serge silently wondered how Tommy was able to track Kira's location, but he trusted Kim and she trusted Tommy, so he did not ask any questions. He would later, but now there were more important things to do.

"What are we going to do when we get there?" Tommy asked.

"We go in first," Kim said, indicating herself and Serge. "Once we clear the building, you can come in."

Tommy looked like he wanted to protest, but then he took a second and thought before nodding in agreement.

When the trio got to the location given by Kira's morpher, there was a very isolated house that looked abandoned. They were in the middle of nowhere. No wonder Carter picked this spot to hide them. They all got out of the car, but only Kim and Serge approached the house, Tommy sticking behind like he was told to.

Kim and Serge looked at each other for a signal to go. They nodded at each other and Serge opened the door, Kim's gun aimed straight. They both entered the house, on alert. Kim pointed to herself then to the staircase leading to the second floor and Serge nodded. He began searching the downstairs while she went upstairs. About 30 seconds later, the two reconviened at the base of the stairs, whispering "clear" to each other. They took note of the one door no one had checked yet. They mouthed "basement" to each other before Kim peaked her head out the front door and waived Tommy toward the house. When he got to the door, she put a finger to her lips then beckoned to him, telling him to stay silent and follow her. They headed to the door to the basement, and on the count of three, Serge and Kim opened the door and began to descend, followed closely by Tommy. As they descended the stairs, they saw three people bound and gagged sitting on the floor.

"Lily! Max! Kira!" Kim yelled to the three people on the floor already looking up the staircase. Serge ran to Max, who was furthest from the staircase, Tommy ran to Kira, who was in the middle of the children, and Kim ran to Lily, who was near the staircase.

"Are you ok?" Kim asked Lily after she undid the gag.

Kim started working on the knots around her wrist, but looked up when Lily said, "Kimberly?"

Kim stared in shock. "You- you know who I am?" Lily nodded as Kim finished untieing her. Kim looked over at Max, who was staring right at her.

"Dr. O," Kira said. "I am so glad you found us." Tommy went to untie her, when she took a sharp breath. "Be careful with my arms; I think the left one is broken."

"Are there any other injuries?" Serge asked.

"Lily said her leg hurt," Kira explained. "That man threw her down the steps when we first got here, so it might be broken. Max hit his head when he was thrown into the van and might have a concussion."

"Lily, do you think you can stand?" Kim asked her sister. Lily shook her head and looked like she might cry.

Kim turned to Tommy. "Can you carry her to the van?" Tommy nodded.

"Hey Lily, this is my friend Tommy. He's also Kira's friend. Is it ok if he carries you to our car?" Lily nodded and Tommy moved from Kira to the young girl to pick her up.

Kim moved to Kira to help her up. Serge had already helped Max to his feet and was keeping him steady, as he was very dizzy.

"You are Kimberly Hart, aren't you?" Kira asked after getting to her feet.

"How do you know that?" Kim asked, then thought of the priorities. "You know what, tell me later. Let's get you guys to the hospital."

Tommy started up the stairs first, carrying Lily bridal style, followed by Serge and Max, and then Kira and Kim.

They got back up to the van and got everyone inside; Serge driving with Tommy in the front, Kira and Max in the middle, and Kim and Lily in the back. They headed to the nearest hospital.

When they got to the ER, Tommy carried Lily in, Serge helped Max walk in, and Kim walked with Kira. The ER attendants took the three injured members of the party right away.

"I should go with the twins," Kim said.

Serge shook his head. "No, you call Pierre, tell him everyone's ok. I'll go with the twins. Kira should be fine on her own." The last part of the statement was directed at Tommy, who looked like he wanted to go with his former teammate.

Tommy nodded and sat down in the chair behind him. Kim made eye contact with Tommy for a second, then turned away to call her step-father and walked away. A couple minutes later, she walked back and sat a seat down from Tommy. Neither one said anything at first. Then Tommy cleared his throat.

"So, uh, how was you step-dad?" Tommy asked.

"He's relieved that everyone is ok," Kim said, then chuckled, "relatively speaking, that is. He and my mom will be here tomorrow morning." Again, there was silence. Kim turned to Tommy with a pained expression. "I am so sorry, Tommy. I'm sorry that Carter dragged everyone into this. Especially Kira and the twins. I mean, the twins I understand, at least they are my family, but Kira had no connection to me and he still took her." Kim looked down. "I never wanted anyone to get hurt. That is why I did what I did."

Tommy was making eye contact with her the whole time, not really sure how to react. Before Tommy could reply, Serge walked up to the two of them. They stood to meet him.

"How are they?" Kim asked.

"Lily has a broken leg and Max has a mild concussion. I checked in on Kira status, and she has a broken arm. Nothing good but nothing too permanent," Serge said.

"Will I be able to take them home tonight?" Kim asked.

Serge nodded. "They should all be released tonight."

Kim turned to Tommy. "Kira can stay in my apartment. I'm going to give Lily and Max my bed. Kira can take the couch or the air mattress I have, whichever she wants."

Tommy nodded. "Thanks. I would have offered to take Kira with me, but I am sharing a hotel room with Billy and there isn't much more room."

Kim pulled out her phone. "I told Pierre I would call him when I got an update."

Serge pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket. "Call this number first".

Kim stared for a second then took the paper. "Whose number is it?"

Serge nodded and said, "You'll see".

Kim shot a quizzical look at Tommy, who shrugged. She dialed the number and put the phone up to her ear. When she heard the voice on the other end, her face showed shock and recognition, her eyes watering. "Dad?" she managed to get out. She turned and walked down the hall.

Tommy looked at Serge. Before he could ask what had just happened, Serge said, "She hasn't talked to her father in 15 years because she didn't want to make it easier for Carter to find her." With that, Serge sat down, signaling that that was all he was going to say.

When the twins and Kira got discharged from the hospital, everyone piled back up in the van. Serge drove to Kim's apartment, and everyone went in to help the twins and Kira settled. Serge called to get pizza delivered for Kim, Kira, and the twins. Kim walked Serge and Tommy to the door. Serge gave Kim a hug and headed down to the van to give Kim and Tommy a second.

"Goodnight," Tommy said. He turned to go and then turned back around. "I just have one question before I go. I-is Carter the guy you left me for?"

Kim didn't say anything for a second.

Tommy regretted opening his mouth. "I'm sorry, forget I asked. I know you went through a lot tonight-"

"No, you deserve an answer," Kim said. "I will explain everything better tomorrow, but the short answer is yes, Carter is the reason you got the letter. But not because of what you think."

Right then, the pizza delivery guy got to the door, cuing Tommy to leave.

Kim brought the pizza inside and everyone feasted. The four chatted over dinner and got to know each other. Kim found out that the twins found out about her on her birthday the year prior; their mother had been looking at a picture herself with Kim when the twins saw it and asked their mother about it. She told them that they have an older sister, Kimberly, who went missing years ago.

Kim felt awful about how she never got the chance to tell her mother what was going on and that she never got to meet the twins before. She felt even more horrible that they got taken because of her. Kim told them a very abbreviated version of what she planned on telling everyone else tomorrow. They were a little young to hear about everything, but they did deserve to know why they were kidnapped, so the abbreviated version was not only a compromise but all Kim manage given the days events.

After Kim and Kira put the twins to bed, Kira took the couch and Kim too the air mattress, which was laid out by the couch. When Kira knew the twins we asleep and wouldn't hear, she asked, "So you were the first pink ranger, huh?"

"Yeah, I was. How did you know that?"

"Well, Dr. O made a video of all the rangers of the past in case anything happened to him. When he got kidnapped, we saw the video when trying to find a way to save him." Kira explained.

"Tommy got kidnapped?" Kim asked with a chuckle. "What a refreshing surprise. Wait, that makes me sound horrible. I'm not glad that Tommy got kidnapped, it was just usually me who got kidnapped on my team." After a second, Kim asked," Was there a pink on your team?"

"No, I was the only girl and I was yellow. But I was Pteradactyl," Kira said.

Kim smiled. "Ptera is the best dinosaur."

"By far," Kira said. She waited a second and then asked, "Did you and Dr. O used to be a thing?"

Kim looked at her hands, which were fidgeting with each other. "Tommy and I did used to date."

"What happened?"

"Well, to make a long story short, Tommy got a letter breaking up with him. All of my friends thought I sent it. I didn't. But I couldn't tell anyone that."

"Why couldn't you tell anyone?" Kira asked.

"It wasn't safe. I did not want to put them in any more danger."

Kira got the feeling that Kim wasn't going to share anymore about the letter right then.

"Do you still love him?" Kira asked.

Not prepared for the question, Kim puffed out her cheeks. "We haven't seen each other a decade and a half and we have both changed."

"Yeah, but do you still love him?"

Kim thought for a second, then said, "Goodnight, Kira."

AN: Hi! I hope you are enjoying the story. I know there are still a lot of things unresolved. I promise, the answers will come in the next chapters. I might not be able to update again for about a month (midterms and all) but I promise I will update when I can!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N I tried posting this chapter and then I had to delete it because it somehow got messed up. I hope it looks normal now. Sorry it took so long to post!

The next morning, Kim drove Kira and the twins to the airport. When they got there, the four of them went to the place where their parents' gates would let out. About ten minutes after they got there, Max pointed to the gate and called out, "Dad!".

Kim's mother and stepfather were walking towards them, arms open. Max ran to his father and Lily crutched quickly to her mother. The parents gushed over the twins and made sure to hug them both. Kim and Kira stayed back, letting the others enjoy their reunion.

After a minute of hugs, Kim's mother, Madison, looked up and noticed Kim. Madison already had tears in her eyes, but many more appeared as mother and daughter ran to each other. Kim, who also had tears in her eyes, managed to choke out, "Hi, Mom."

Madison pulled Kim back to arm's length to look at her. "My little girl has grown up."

"Mom, I am so sorry –" Kim started, but her mother interrupted.

"I know, it's ok. I do want to know what happened, but I am just so glad to see you." Madison said.

As the two hugged again, Pierre put his hand on Kim's shoulder. Without letting go of her mother, Kim looked up and they nodded at each other. Pierre then went up to Kira, who stayed back still. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you," Pierre said with the utmost sincerity. "Thank you." He squeezed her shoulder and Kira smiled.

When Kim and her mother separated from each other, everyone wiped their tears and Kim said, "Alright, we are heading to Jason's dojo to meet some friends who also need to hear this explanation."

When Kim, Kira, the twins, and Kim's mom and stepdad got to Jason's dojo, Jason, Kat, and a couple of the former rangers were already there. Kat met Kim at the door and asked, "Do you want me to watch the twins during this? I already know the whole story and I am not sure they are old enough to hear every detail of what happened."

Kim nodded and thanked her friend. "Lily and Max, this is my friend Kat. Do you want to go hang out with her while the rest of us are busy?"

"I want to stay and hear everything!" Max said.

"Max, you and Lily go with Katherine. Please," Pierre said. When the twins saw the look in their father's eyes, they did not argue. They followed Kat into a side room, and Jason led Kira, Kim, and her parents into the meeting room on the other side of the dojo. Within the next ten minutes, everyone who was supposed to be there was present, except for Serge. A couple of minutes went by, and finally Kim got impatient.

"Does anyone know when Serge is going to get here?" she asked.

"I'm here, I'm here," Serge said, coming into the room. "Sorry I'm late. I had to pick up a special surprise."

"What do you mean, a special surprise?" Kim asked.

Serge grinned and moved out of the doorway. The door opened, and in came Arthur Hart, Kim's father. Kim yelled, "Dad!" and ran towards her father, who was waiting with his arms open. He spun her around as she jumped into his arms. Tears were starting to form in Kim's eyes.

"I thought you couldn't get out here until next week at the earliest!" Kim said.

Her father smiled. "I haven't seen my only child in over 15 years. I was not going to wait another day to see you."

Kim gave Mr. Hart one more quick hug and brought her dad to sit in the chair next to her. "Okay, I think I should go around really quick and do introductions because you all don't really know each other. I think all of you know Jason. Next to him is Zack, then Billy, Tommy, Aisha, Rocky, Adam, and Tanya. I think all of you have also met Kat. She volunteered to watch my brother and sister in another room because she already knows everything and Lily and Max are not old enough to hear the whole story. I told them an abbreviated version last night."

"How are Lily and Max?" Aisha asked.

"They are ok. Lily has a broken leg and Max has a mild concussion. But nothing life-threatening so that is good." Kim said before continuing with introductions. "Ok, so next to Tanya is Sergeant Greg Parker, then Ed Lane, our team leader, then Constable Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti, Constable Kevin "Wordy" Wordsworth, and Constable Leah Kerns. Next to Leah is Sam Braddock, he used to be a member of our team before he moved away. Next to Sam is Kira Ford. She is Lily and Max's babysitter. Next is my stepdad, Pierre, my mother, Madison, and my dad, Arthur. So, I think that is everyone."

Kim took a deep breath and got ready to tell her story. "If you didn't already catch on, my real name is Kimberly Anne Hart. 15 years ago, I changed my name to Julianna Callahan. Some of you know me as Kim and some of you know me as Jules. Call me whichever you prefer, I will answer to both.

"To start off, as I said, my real name is Kim. I was born and raised in Angel Grove, California. I grew up with my mom and dad. They divorced when I was a teenager and then my mom got remarried to Pierre when I was 17. Mom and Pierre moved to Pierre's hometown in France, and I moved in with my dad (A/N I know she moved in with Aisha but just go with it). Growing up, I loved gymnastics."

Kim saw the look of confusion on her team's faces. "I know, you would never know it now, but I was really good. When I was a senior in High School, I got recruited by my coach to train full time with him at his gym in Florida. My dad and I moved out to Florida so I could train for the Pan Globals.

"But before I tell the main part of the story, I have something else I need to tell you." Kim turned to the side of the room that her old friends were on. "If there are any negative consequences, it will be on me. I'm sorry, but I have to tell my team about us."

Billy looked concerned. "Kim, you can't."

"I have to. My team and I put our lives into each other's hands every day, just like our team used to. If they can't trust me, we have a problem. And I know I already put strain everyone's trust by not telling you all the second part of my story. I need to come completely clean." Kim turned to face the rest of the table. "Do all of you know what Power Rangers are?"

"You mean those people with colored spandex and powers who fight monsters?" Spike asked.

Kim nodded. The team mumbled their familiarity with the rangers.

"Well," Kim started, "We were the Power Rangers. And last night's reunion was not just a get together with old friends, it was a ranger reunion."

Team One did not react that quickly, but Kim's family spoke with confusion. "What do you mean?" Kim's mom asked. "You were a ranger? How did we not know?"

"Honestly, I don't know how more people didn't figure us out. We literally wore our colors every day." Once everyone got over their shock, Kim continued. "I was the original pink ranger, Jason was the original red ranger, Zack was the original black ranger, Billy was the original blue ranger, and-" Kim paused. "And our friend Trini, who passed away, not because of anything ranger-related, was the original yellow ranger. When our villain, Rita Rapulsa, decided she wanted her own evil ranger, so she created an evil green power coin. Power coins were how we got our power, and they drew on dinosaur spirits. Tommy had just moved to town and rivaled Jason in karate, so she gave the evil coin to Tommy. He became the evil green ranger for a bit, but we were able to break the spell on him. He fought on our side for a short time as the green ranger, but because the powers were meant for evil, they were unstable and Tommy had to give up the coin. Zordon and Alpha, the beings who gave us our powers, created a white power coin and gave it to Tommy, who took over as our leader. Soon after, Jason, Zack, and Trini were given the opportunity to go to Europe for the International Teen Peace Conference. Rocky replaced Jason as red ranger, Aisha replaced Trini as yellow, and Adam replaced Zack as black. When I moved to Florida, I gave the pink power coin to Kat, who had recently moved to town. And then I was not there for this but I believe Aisha left Angel Grove to be closer to family in Africa, and Tanya took her place as yellow ranger."

Kim paused, letting everyone take in the information that was thrown at them. "Any questions so far?"

Sam raised his hand. "Let me get this straight. You were a power ranger. And you were a pink power ranger. And you fought aliens and monster with powers given to you by people named Zordon and Alpha?"

"Well, actually, Zordon and Alpha weren't people. They were also aliens, as you put it. But they came to Earth to protect it. Alpha was similar to an android, I guess. Zordon was a powerful being who was essentially a floating head in a tube."

All of the non-rangers made faces at that last part.

"Now that that is over, I guess it's onto the hard part. So I moved to Florida partway through my senior year of high school. I trained with my Coach, Coach Schmidt, and everything was going great. I made two really good friends. Their names are Jack and Amelia. Both of them are two years older than me and had been training with Coach Schmidt for years. The three of us became best friends. Well, I was more of a third wheel because Jack and Amelia had been dating since before I got there, but they welcomed me into their circle and never made me feel like a third wheel.

"I'm getting off track, sorry. I was training, and things were going good. I somehow started getting some fans soon after I got to Florida. They would write fan mail every now and then. But I would get mail weekly from someone named Carter." She paused. "The letters started out sweet, like the typical fan mail. But then, he started saying some things that started to creep me out. Like, he would mention places I had been in the past week like we went there together. I don't really know how to explain it. They were starting to get a little concerning, but I did not think they were too serious. When Christmas came around, I visited Angel Grove.

"After Christmas, I went back to Florida. A couple of weeks went by and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Then, one day, I was stretching and getting ready for my turn doing floorwork. Amelia was on the balance beam, which was right next to where I was. Jack was on the guys side of the gym. Everything was fine. And then there was a crash from the guys side. I looked over and I saw that Jack was under the pommel horse. I looked up at Amelia and she looked nervous. Then her eyes got even wider as the balance beam fell out from underneath her. The mats under the beam were not placed properly and she hit her head on the base of the beam. They were both rushed to the hospital."

Kim paused, readying herself to go on. "Jack became paralyzed from the waist down. Amelia hit her head so hard that she had brain damage. Now, if you knew me back then, you know how much I loved gymnastics. But these two loved it even more, and that, along with a normal life, was taken away from them. But at the time, we thought it was an accident. A really coincidental and terrible accident, but an accident none the less.

"When I got back to the apartment that night, I found a letter on my front door. It was from Carter. In the letter, Carter said that he was the one who rigged the equipment to fail when my closest friends were using them."

"How did he know he would hurt specifically your friends?" Ed asked.

"Our training schedules used to be posted at the door, and anyone could see them and know where any athlete was supposed to be at any time during training."

"That does not seem like the best plan," Adam said.

Kim shook her head. "It wasn't, but no one thought someone would use that to anyone."

"But why did he do it?" Wordy asked.

"He wanted me to know that he was being serious, that he would not hesitate to act on his threats if I didn't follow exactly what he said."

"What threats? What did he tell you to do?" Zack asked.

Kim took a deep breath. "He said that I had to break off all of my ties with my friends in Angel Grove because he wanted me all to himself. He wanted to have power over me. If I talked to anyone in Angel Grove, he would hurt some of my friends back home. Given the fact he had nearly killed two of my friends already, I took it seriously."

Kim waited for a second to prepare for what would come after her next revelation.

"Attached to the letter from Carter was a photocopy of a Dear John letter 'I wrote' breaking up with Tommy," Kim said, using air quotes.

"Wait, so you didn't write that letter?" Tommy asked zeroing in on Kim, who shook her head. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I couldn't," Kim started. "If I tried to tell you, Carter would have hurt someone because I wasn't following his rules. And I did _not_ want anyone else to get hurt because of me."

"We could have taken care of ourselves if he did. We were the freaking power rangers," Tommy said, getting a little heated.

"I'm not saying you all couldn't have held your own if Carter came after you, but I didn't want to put you in the line of fire at all," Kim said. "And one of the rules of being a ranger was that you could never use your powers against humans. So if Carter came after you, you would be on your own. As far as I know, you have fought monsters trying to kill you, but you could use powers on them, and you have fought humans in karate tournaments, but you have never fought a human who was trying to kill you. Again, it's not that I don't have faith in your fighting abilities, I just never wanted to put you in that position.

"And you guys weren't my only friends in Angel Grove. You were my closest friends, but not my only friends. What about Ernie? Do you think he could fend off anyone trying to hurt him? Or even Bulk and Skull? God knows they were not our friends but we spent so much time around them that Carter could have decided to go after them. Can you imagine Bulk and Skull fighting someone trying to hurt them?"

"But we could have protected them," Tommy said.

"No," Kim started. "You couldn't have. You guys had the job of protecting the city from monsters. What would have happened if Carter did something while you were in the middle of a battle? It wouldn't have taken him long to stab someone walking in the park. He could have gone into Ernie's, shot up the place and left before you even knew something was wrong. And what if you guys weren't even in Angel Grove, huh? What if you weren't even on Earth? Remember that time everyone but me went to Alpha's home planet when he thought something was wrong? Rita sent a monster down and I had to fight it myself. With the flu! Which is the only reason I was even still on Earth and able to fight. If I didn't have the flu, I would have gone with you guys to Alpha's home planet and the monster would have had no one to stop him. And with that, if some human decided to hurt someone, I would not have been able to break away from the fight to help them.

"And what about Phados? When Ivan Ooze destroyed our powers, the six of us went to the planet Phados to find new powers, and we left Angel Grove defenseless for a couple of days. And in that time, Ooze was able to get control of the minds of every adult in Angel Grove and turn them into his slaves. They would have all died when Ooze told them to walk off a cliff if the kids of the town didn't rally together and save them with… I can't believe I am saying this but with the help of Bulk and Skull."

"But we had to go! We couldn't stop Ooze without our powers so we had to go get other ones!" Tommy said.

"Yes, but that is my point! We left Angel Grove so we could get what we needed to save it. But we still had to leave it. We couldn't be everywhere at once. We couldn't protect everyone at all times." Kim paused. "I didn't say I did everything right, but I was a scared 17-year-old who just saw two of her friends get hurt because of her and didn't want to see anyone else get hurt. But it didn't work." Kim looked down.

"What do you mean, it didn't work?" Rocky asked. "Who did he hurt?"

When Kim looked back up, she had some tears in her eyes. "We are missing someone here today. Someone who should be sitting right about there." Kim pointed between Zack and Billy.

It took a second for people to think, but then Billy whispered, "Trini?"

All of the former rangers were taken aback. "I thought she was killed in a hit and run!" Tanya said. The others murmured their confusion as well.

"It was so much more than that," Kim said.

A/N I hope you enjoyed! There is more to the explanation, but that will be coming in the next chapter. I had hoped to make the explanation one long chapter but I was supposed to update this story a long time ago so I wanted to post something. I hope to get the next chapter up soon!


	4. Chapter 4

Hi! Sorry it took so long to post! I am anticipating 1-2 more chapters after this, depending on how I break things up. Also, there is a trigger warning partway through for graphic descriptions of a homicide. I have indicated this spot with and A/N. Another A/N is at the end of the section with a less descriptive short explanation if you can't read the full thing. Enjoy!

_"What do you mean, it didn't work?" Rocky asked. "Who did he hurt?"_

_When Kim looked back up, she had some tears in her eyes. "We are missing someone here today. Someone who should be sitting right about there." Kim pointed between Zack and Billy._

_It took a second for people to think, but then Billy whispered, "Trini?"_

_All of the former rangers were taken aback. "I thought she was killed in a hit and run!" Tanya said. The others murmered their confusions as well._

_"It was so much more than that," Kim said_.

"But a couple of things happened that I have to tell you about before I get to Trini. After the letter, Jason and Trini called me. They knew something was up. Since he was not in Angel Grove at the time, I wasn't as worried about Carter finding out. I was so distraught that I told them everything. They agreed not to tell anyone else.

"A couple of months later, Jason contacted me again and told me about the charity boxing tournament happening in Angel Grove. He asked if I wanted to go with him and Trini. I hadn't heard from Carter since he cut me off from you guys, so I thought…" Kim paused. "I don't know. I thought maybe he had miraculously forgotten about me and life could go back to normal, whatever that was.

"Jason and Trini were going to fly out to Florida to get me and then we were going to go to Angel Grove. Trini ended up needing to stay back but she was going to fly out to Florida after the tournament – when Jason and I got back. I was planning on telling you all what really happened after the tournament. But then everything with Divatox happened."

Kim turned to the rest of the table. "The rangers' new enemy was a space pirate named Divatox and she kidnapped me a Jason before we were able to get to Angel Grove. She ended up throwing us into a lava pit where her magma-boyfriend was trapped, which turned us evil until a magical troll-like creature broke the spell on us and… wow."

Kim stopped. "I did not realize how ridiculous that sounds. I don't think I would believe me if I didn't live through it myself. But the point is, I got a little sidetracked. When the tournament was over and I was going to tell you everything, I decided not to."

Locking eyes with Tommy, Kim continued. "Tommy, you were with Kat then and I didn't want to ruin anything you two had just so I could clear my conscience. And… well I guess I chickened out. I made Jason leave with me right after the tournament." Tommy's face was unreadable.

"We got back to Florida and expected to find Trini at my apartment. My dad picked her up at the airport in the earlier that afternoon and brought her to the apartment. When Jason and I got there, which was around 4pm, Trini wasn't there. She left a note saying that she wanted to explore my neighborhood and would be back before dinner, so Jason and I weren't super worried. We knew where she wa-…" Kim and Jason glanced at each other. "We _thought _we knew where she was.

"Dinner time rolled around and Trini hadn't come back yet. We were starting to get worried. We were in the middle of deciding if we should go out and look for her when there was a knock at the door. I was so relieved. I thought it was Trini."

Kim took a breath, leaving time for Spike to butt in with, "Let me guess, it wasn't Trini?"

Nodding, Kim continued, "No it was not. It was a package about yay big," Kim mimed a box the size of a large textbook. "But by the time I got to the door, I couldn't see who left it. It didn't have any postage stamps or anything to indicate that it was just delivered by a mailman. The only think on the outside of the box was my name written in black sharpie."

"That's not suspicious at all…" Rocky mumbled to himself. When he realized everyone was looking at him, he cleared his throat. "Sorry, was I talking out loud?"

Aisha and Adam, sitting on either side of the former red ranger, punched Rocky's shoulders to quiet him down.

Kim suppressed the faint smile that came to her lips. It had been so long since she had seen her friends interacting with each other. Rocky's comment and Adam and Aisha's reaction was such a miniscule moment, but it reminded Kim of everything she missed by hiding all of these years. All of the moments, big and small, she missed from her friends' lives. Then she remembered where she was in her story, which reminded her why she hid; so her friends could continue having moments like those, even though that meant she wouldn't get to be a part of them.

Jason nudged her arm, brining her back to reality. "Right, sorry. Yes, Rocky, you're right, it was super suspicious. But I brought the box inside and opened it. There were two envelopes, a VCR tape, and a sticky note on top. The sticky note said 'Watch video first', or something like that. So I popped the video into the VCR player and –"

Her voice cracked. Jason took her left hand in his right hand, knowing full well what was about to come out.

"Let me," he said.

Kim nodded in thanks and let Jason continue. "The video was taken from a pickup truck. The camera showed the view out the front windshield. I think the camera must have been strapped down to the bed of the truck and pointed through the open back window. But we could see the shoulder of the driver and a little bit of the wheel. The truck was driving down an unpopulated side street near Kim's apartment. At first, there was no one, save for the driver, in the frame. Then a person with long, dark black hair and a yellow shirt came into view. She was just walking down the street."

"Trini," Billy whispered, but this time it wasn't a question.

"You're saying the hit and run was on purpose?" Zack asked. "Done by this Carter guy?"

Kim nodded. "But there's more." She only managed to get that out in a whisper. Her eyes started to glaze with tears.

"What do you mean, 'there's more'?" asked Zack. "How can there be more? Trini's death wasn't an accident. She was hit on purpose. How can it get worse than that?"

"Because she wasn't just hit," Again, it only came out as a whisper.

***A/N here is the trigger warning. Skip to the next A/N for an abbreviated version without all the more intense details***

Kim steeled herself to go on. She made herself look up from the table and make eye contact with her friends, though she knew she would have trouble seeing in a few seconds because of the impending tears forming. "The truck hit her. But then instead of running, Carter… he laughed and backed up. I could hear her cries of pain through the laughter. She was crying out for help. I couldn't help her." Jason squeezed her hand as she paused. "Then… then he realigned the truck and drove completely over her. And then he backed up over her. But that last one was just overkill because she was already dead. I could pinpoint exactly when she died because one second she was yelling and the next… nothing. And through it all, Carter was laughing. He turned to the camera and I saw his face for the first time. He had this malicious smile that I still sometimes see in my nightmares. He said, 'that was for you, Kimmy'. Then the screen went dark".

The silence in the room was deafening.

Sam was the first one to talk. "What the actual hell?"

"That's messed up," Wordy joined in.

Kim turned so she was facing the whole table and not just the former rangers. "Oh, but I'm not finished."

"How can it possibly get worse?" Spike asked.

Kim wiped away her tears with her free hand. "He got out of the car and took pictures of her dead body. How's that for worse?"

"Wha-?" Leah tried to ask but Kim kept going.

"Yeah. From multiple angles, to make sure to capture all of the gore. The pictures were in one of the two envelopes from the box. I will not be demonstrating the horrible scream that came from my mouth when I saw the pictures of her lifeless face, but I can promise you it happened."

"I can confirm this," Jason grimaced, trying not to remember.

Kim went back to staring at the table. "When I saw her face I just… I just broke. Before then, I was in denial. I thought, 'maybe that wasn't her, maybe it was a stranger'. Not that I wanted a stranger to get hurt or anything. But by pretending it wasn't Trini, I was able to numb myself. But then I saw her face… and I… I-"

***A/N Here is the abbreviated version: Carter hit Trini with the truck multiple times and then took pictures, which one of the envelopes from the box contained.***

Kim stopped, tears pouring out of her eyes. Jason let go of her hand and stood to get tissues. He put the box down in front of Kim, took some out, and handed them to her. Then he took a few for himself. He passed the box to his left, and many of the former rangers took a tissue and kept passing the box down. Some of the members of Team One even took tissues. Kim's parents definitely took a few as well.

The only sounds in the room for the next minute was sniffles and more tissues being taken out of the box. Finally, Kim got her emotions under control. Her mother the first one to speak.

"What was in the other envelope?"

People around the room nodded like: 'Oh yeah, what about that other envelope?'

Kim shook her head at her mother. "It was just another letter from Carter. Stuff like 'you didn't listen', 'your best friend is dead because of you', 'I told you I was serious', and 'you made me do it'. Oh, but this time he also threatened you and Pierre all the way in France.

"My coach, he heard my scream. Most of my gymnastics team lived in the same apartment complex but coach gave us the week off so the complex was mostly empty. But coach was still there, and he came to see what was wrong. I was so distraught that I broke down in front of him and told him everything. And in the middle of telling him everything, my dad came home and so I had to tell him everything too. Well, not the ranger-related details, but everything else. And then they both agreed that the safest thing to do was for me to disappear. The hope was if Carter couldn't find me, he couldn't try to control me by hurting the people I care about."

"But how did you get up here?" Ed asked. "Why did you pick Toronto?"

Serge cleared his throat and spoke for the first time since the explanation started, all eyes on him. "That would be because of me. Kim's coach and I were childhood friends. He called me and told me what was going on. I agreed to help protect Kim from Carter. We got her up here as quickly and quietly as possible."

"I changed my name from Kimberly Ann Hart to Julianna Callahan," Kim continued. "I cut off contact with everyone I had ever known. Serge helped me get on the track to become a SRU officer like him. I wanted to help people, not put them in danger, and being a part of the SRU helped me do that. I joined Team One and have been here ever since."

"Jason, how did you end up here?" Adam asked.

"I didn't want to make it super obvious to Carter where Kim was going by moving up here with her right away, but I didn't want her to be completely alone. I waited about a year and then moved up here, buying this dojo from the previous owner and taking over," Jason explained.

"Okay, but what about Kat? You said she knows everything. Did she know you guys were here before she moved here?" Tanya asked.

Jason shook his head. "No, Kat moving here was completely coincidental. Her job transferred her here and the two of us ran into each other. We decided to go out to reminisce and get to know each other better. But we got our wires crossed somewhere. I thought I was picking her up at her place, she thought she was picking me up at mine."

Kim turned to Jason. "Yeah, and when you let your friend," Kim pointed at herself, "stay at your apartment for a couple day while hers is getting fumigated and you have a date, you should really tell that friend or else she will answer the door in her pajamas while you are getting ready."

A couple chuckles came from around the table.

Kim turned back to face everyone. "When I answered the door, Kat and I were both shocked. But her probably a little more. I can't imagine what she thought; someone she hasn't seen in years opening the door to her date's apartment. Jason came running out of his room when he realized what was happening. We got Kat to come inside and we told her everything. She agreed to keep my secret."

"Just like that, you told her everything?" Sam asked, a little hurt in his voice. "You hadn't seen her in years and you just told her everything? And you never told us anything?"

Kim sighed. "I didn't want her to tell anyone of our friends that she saw me. It had been 14 years since I left Florida, but I still didn't want to put anyone from my old life, or my new life for that matter, in Carter's crosshairs."

"Did anyone else know?" Billy asked.

"Only one other person," Kim said and glanced at her stepfather. "Pierre was in Toronto on a business trip about three years ago. We ran into each other on the street by SRU headquarters. I was not expecting to see him so I had not mentally prepared myself to come up with an excuse for why I looked like his missing stepdaughter. I brought him to the SRU and told him what happened."

"You've known for three years where my daughter has been?" Madison asked, whipping her head to her husband. "And you didn't tell me?"

"Mom, don't be mad at Pierre," Kim jumped in. "I made him promise to not tell you. He didn't want to but because he didn't want you or the twins to get hurt, he agreed. But he also believed that me living separated from my old life was not a healthy way for me to live the rest of my life. We agreed that if I got no word pertaining to Carter in the next five years, I would reconnect with him and meet up with you and the twins. We exchanged numbers and agreed only to contact each other in five years or if there was an emergency. That is how he was able to get a hold of me last night to tell me that Carter took the twins and Kira."

"Speaking of Kira," Ed butted in, "How is it that Tommy was able to track her down last night? Something about a bracelet?"

Kim looked at Tommy to see if he wanted to explain. Tommy took a second to respond because he was still processing all of the information being thrown at him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah right," Tommy mumbled. "I was a teacher at Reefside High, where Kira went to school. To make a long story short, when she was a senior, she, three other guys and I were the Dino Thunder power rangers. This is how I was able to track her."

Tommy showed his wrist with his black dinogem bracelet. Kira did the same with her yellow one. "These are dinogems. They were the source of our power. They lost their power after our final battle with our bad guy, Mesagog, but they still give off a distinct energy reading. I called Ethan, our blue ranger, who is a technical genius. I asked him to track Kira's location."

"Kira, you were a power ranger?" Pierre asked.

Kira nodded. "I am so sorry I couldn't protect Lily and Max better. I should have been able to. But I don't have my powers anymore. We were walking around Highland Park and Carter threw the twins into his van before I knew what was even going on. I tried to fight him but he chloroformed me. I did get in a few punches before I went down though."

Pierre shook his head. "You did what you could. And for that, I thank you."

"Sorry, this is touching and all, but I thought you lived in France." Spike said. "I don't know for sure, but I don't think there are any Highland Parks in France."

"We did when Kim first disappeared," Pierre started. "But before the twins were born we moved to Rochester, New York."

"That makes a lot more sense," Spike said and leaned back in his chair.

The was quiet in the room for a couple seconds, then Zack asked, "How did Carter find you here?" Zack looked around at his friends faces. "Or did we already talk about that? My brain is on overload right now."

"No, I didn't mention that yet," Kim started. "When I said earlier that I cut off all communication with everyone from my old life, that was technically not 100% true. I'm not talking about Jason coming up here or me running into Kat and Pierre. Every year around my birthday, Coach Schmidt would send a package to Serge who would give it to me. The package contained a couple letters; from him, from my dad. That's how I found out my mom and Pierre were going to have the twins. Dad told me in his letters and kept me up to date every year. He even put in a Christmas card with the twins' pictures on it so I could 'meet' my siblings."

"Wait, you said something about that last night," Sam said. "You said that your birthday is in February? I thought it was in March." (A/N I tried looking up when Jules' birthday is but I couldn't find it, and if it was said in an episode, I don't remember so I made her birthday March).

"When I changed my name, I changed my birthdate on paper to hopefully throw Carter off of my scent. So yes, I have been celebrating my birthday in March for the past 15 years. But my real birthday is February 14th," Kim said and chuckled when she saw her team making the connection in their minds. "Go ahead and make fun. My last name is Hart and I was born on Valentines Day. Ha ha, I've heard it all before."

"If he found you in February, why did he wait over three months to face you?" Tanya asked.

"I…" Kim trailed off, "I've been wondering that too. I honestly don't know."

"But wait," Jason interjected. "Didn't he say he sent you a present or something?"

Kim nodded. "Yes. I have been thinking about that too. I have no idea what he's talking about." Kim turned to her team. "I know I didn't get any suspicious packages in the past three months so I think Carter did something to mess with me. But what did he do? What happened in the last three months?"

"You mean other than Lou?" Spike grumbled.

"Yeah, other than-" Kim stopped. She thought to herself for a moment, trying to connect dots she didn't realize were even there until just now. She shook her head, muttering, "No… no, no, no, no…"

"What is it?" Wordy asked. "What's wrong?"

Kim turned to Jason. "Can I borrow your laptop?"

Jason nodded and stood up. His laptop was on top of a small table in the corner. He grabbed it and set it down on the table in front of Kim.

"What are you doing?" Wordy asked.

Kim kept tapping at the computer. She groaned. "What is the password to get onto the SRU database off site?"

Spike stood and rounded the table. He typed a password in and stood back while Kim searched for a file.

"You still haven't answered any of my questions," Wordy grumbled.

"I'm looking for pictures from a case file… found it," Kim said, opening the online casefile and flipping through the pictures. "Okay… not it… not it… not it… there." She stopped on a picture and zoomed in. Her face, previously full of concentration, fell and the blood drained from her face.

After staring at the screen for a few moments, Kim silently stood up and started walking to the door closest to her.

"Where are you going?" Jason asked.

"I need to punch something," Kim said as she walked out the door. She headed to a punching bag not far from the conference room and started punching it.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Spike, who was still standing behind Kim's chair, bent down to look at the computer screen. When he saw the file that Kim had been looking at he froze.

"Spike, what is it?" Serge asked.

Kim, who finished her angry punching session, walked back into the room with more tears in her eyes. She froze at the door when she saw Spike looking at the computer.

"Spike, I- I am so, so sorry." Kim said.

Spike stood up from looking at the computer. He turned to face her, his eyes unfocused.

"Lou…" Spike muttered.

"I had no idea, I swear." Kim said.

Anger filled Spike's face. "You killed Lou," he spit out forcefully. Then he turned and stormed out the door at the opposite end of the room.

A/N I hope you enjoyed this chapter! How Lou's death is connected to Carter will be revealed in the next chapter. Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

***A/N **IMPORTANT**! 2 Things! **This chapter won't make sense if you don't read the whole AN!**

1) Sorry It literally took me months and months to finish this story. The pandemic is sucky and I was just really uninspired for a long long time but then I finally got into a creative mode and finished this last chapter.

2) I totally misremembered Lou's death when I created this story. I mixed up Lou's death with events from two other TV shows and I think a completely separate episode of Flashpoint, and then my brain twisted it even more. When I re-watched the episode where he dies, I had already published the beginning of this story, where I had already started sowing the seeds of how Lou's death related to Kim. I tried to make what I had fit in with Lou's actual death but I couldn't so I'm going to tell you how Lou dies in this story (Some things are accurate to the episode and somethings are not):

The whole set up where the team learns about a bomb, Spike goes to disarm it, they learn about another bomb before he's done and Lou goes to disarm it but steps on a landmine is all the same in this story. However, the people who set the bomb are different and had different reasons. The people who paid for the bombs and landmines to be set are an old couple with extreme political views who owned a company. The building where the second bomb was set (where Lou stepped on the landmine) was associated with an organization that stood for the opposite things the old folks' organization stood for. The old couple's company was known to oppose the targeted organization so Serge sent Jules and some officers to question the old couple. They don't even try to hide that they are behind the bombing because they are proud of it. Jules gets the name of the person they hired to set the explosives and Serge sends another member of Team One to question the bombmaker while Jules takes care of arresting the couple. When questioned, the bombmaker flaunts his designs, stating that the landmines cannot be deactivated. Then it resumes the way the episode actually ends; Lou can't stand still anymore and he doesn't want anyone else to get hurt trying to save him so he calls his parents and says goodbye to them, then to the team and then he steps off the landmine, killing himself.

Ok so I think I combined an episode of NCIS, a different episode of Flashpoint (though I might have made that up) and my own ideas into Lou's death. Sorry for messing this up! But how Kim is able to connect Carter to this (the nephew connection) is definitely something I made up and not something that is actually in any of the real storylines I thought were a part of the episode where Lou dies.

Without further ado, here is the final chapter:

_Anger filled Spike's face. "You killed Lou," he spit out forcefully. Then he turned and stormed out the door at the opposite end of the room._

Kim spun, turning her back to her friends and putting the heels of her hands up to her eyes, pressing hard to get the tears to stop.

"I'm gonna go check on him," Wordy murmured as he stood and followed Spike out of the room.

"Jules," Serge started. "What did Spike mean?"

Kim turned back around with a tear-streaked face and turned the laptop so that everyone else could see the screen. The picture on the screen was of a picture on someone's desk. In the picture were three people; two adults and one child around 11 years old. The members of Team One still in the room scrunched their faces in recognition of the two adults.

"When I went to go question the Emerson's (A/N This is the name I made up for the people that paid to have the bombs set) about who they paid to set the bombs, they kept talking about their nephew," Kim choked out. "I was so focused on trying to get information out of them that would help get Lou off that stupid landmine that I didn't pay attention to their talk of their nephew. But it's him. It's Carter. He said 'I am the nephew' when he was being taken away."

"Jules-"

Serge was cut off by Kim shouting, "Don't you get it? There wouldn't have been any bombs to diffuse or landmines to get stepped on if it wasn't for me. Carter had them set so that someone close to me would get hurt. It's my fault Lou is dead."

Kim kept muttering, "It's my fault," as tears streamed down her face and she hunched in on herself. No one moved for a moment. Then Ed stood and made his way over to Kim. He took her by the shoulders and sat her back down in her chair. He squatted down in front of her so that he would be at her eye-level, even though she was avoiding all eye contact.

After a couple seconds of silence, Ed said, "It's my fault you got shot."

All eyes in the room shot to Ed's face, even Kim's.

"What?" Kim asked, so shocked at the drastic change in topic that she forgot she was crying.

"You got shot because of me," Ed repeated with a straight face, eyes locked on Kim's.

"No," Kim shook her head. "I got shot because Tomasic shot at me." (A/N That's the guy who shot Jules in Season 2 Episode 4)

"And why was he shooting in the first place?" Ed asked.

"Because he was mad."

"And who was he mad at?"

Kim went to answer but then stopped herself, understanding what Ed was getting at.

"Say it, Jules. Who was he mad at?" Ed repeated.

"... You," Kim whispered then cleared her throat and spoke louder. "He was mad at you."

Ed nodded.

"But it's not your fault, Ed. You didn't shoot me, Tomasic did," Kim protested.

"And you didn't set the landmine, Carter did," Ed said.

"That's not the same," Kim said, looking back down at her hands.

Ed stood. "You know what, you're right. It's not the same. Tomasic actually had a legitimate reason to hate me and come after me and my team. I killed his father right in front of him!"

Kim looked back up at Ed. "You had to. His father would have killed the hostage otherwise."

Ed nodded. "I know. I know I did the right thing. But my point is that Tomasic's anger towards me came from me actually doing something that affected him. And I signed up for this job willingly, never thinking that anything like the Tomasic situation would happen but knowing it was a possibility. You, on the other hand, were just a teenager trying to live your life. You didn't do anything to Carter to get him to come after you, you didn't sign up to get stalked. He just latched onto you and wouldn't let go. Yeah, he hurt some people you cared about because you 'disobeyed' him, but you should never have had to obey him in the first place. _He_ hurt your friends, not you. You just got caught in the middle. None of this is your fault, and I am so sorry that you had to go through all of this. So let me be the first person to say that I don't blame you. For any of this."

Kim was frozen in her seat, shocked by Ed's statement of support.

"I don't blame you either."

Kim's eyes widened as she turned to see Tommy stand up.

"You didn't do anything to deserve having to go through all of that. Carter is the problem, not you," Tommy started. "I'm not gonna lie, I am still a little freaked and I'm still processing everything. But I don't blame you."

Jason stood next. "I don't blame you. I never have."

Serge stood. Then Billy. Then Zack, and Rocky, and Adam, all expressing the same sentiment. Soon everyone in the room was on their feet saying they don't blame her. Kim, who was still sitting, was crying and looking around the room.

"I don't blame you."

Kim finally stood as everyone turned to look at the door to look at Spike, who had just spoken. Spike was standing in the doorway, Wordy slightly behind him.

"I shouldn't have reacted so dramatically," Spike said. "I was just shocked. Lou was my best friend. I'm still angry he died and I took that out on you. Carter is to blame for Lou's death, not you. I don't blame you."

Kim let herself smile at Spike, then looked around the rest of the room. "I love you all so much."

* * *

Everyone left Jason's dojo soon after that. The former rangers all agreed to get together the next day for a short time before everyone went back to their regular lives. Team One went off to get ready for their shift, minus Kim, who went with her family to the hotel they were booked to stay in. Kim spent the afternoon getting to know her siblings and being able to really talk with her mom, dad, and step-dad for the first time in years.

In the late afternoon, Kim stopped by the jail where Carter was being held until he could be arraigned (A/N Again, I know nothing about the Canadian justice system so I don't know if that is the right terminology). 10 minutes after she arrived, she was sitting at one of the cubbies on the long counter with a wall of glass separating the visitors from the inmates. The door opened on the opposite side of the glass and Carter was escorted in. When he saw her, he smiled his creepy smile and sat down opposite her.

"Hello, there," Carter started. "I knew you would come crawling to me eventually."

Kim glared at him.

"Did you come to ask for my help?" Carter asked, the smile still on his face.

Kim narrowed her eyes. "Why would I need your help?"

"Finding your brother and sister, of course," Carter said. "Though I am quite surprised you waited this long to come to me. I really did not leave them much food or water. I thought you cared about them more, but I guess I was wrong."

Kim lost her composure and started to laugh.

"What? Why are you doing that?" Carter asked.

Kim kept laughing.

"Seriously," Carter said, "do you really care about your siblings' safety so little that you waste time laughing instead of making a deal with me?"

Kim's laughing died down as she let out a dramatic sigh. "Ahhhh, thank you. I needed a good laugh. I think we have had a miscommunication."

"And why would you think that?"

"Because," Kim smiled at him. "We found the twins less than an hour after you were arrested."

Carter gapped at her. "You're lying. There is no way you could have found them without my help."

"No, I'm serious." Kim said. "I don't need your help. I don't need anything from you. I just came to let you know that this time you lost. You lost big time. Goodbye, Carter."

Kim smiled wider and stood up. As she walked away, she heard Carter screaming, "YOU NEED ME! YOU NEED ME!"

She didn't turn back once.

* * *

Later that night, Kim was back in her apartment when there was a knock on the door. She was surprised to see Tommy awkwardly standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"Tommy! What… uh… what are you doing here?"

He grinned at her. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No! No, not at all." Kim said, somewhat awkwardly.

"Sorry for surprising you," Tommy said. "I have to ask you a question."

"Uh, ok, sure."

"So, uh," He started. "I work- well, worked at a High School in Reefside for the past couple years. But they are undergoing some budget cuts and they are probably going to have to cut my program there. The school board is deciding that in a couple weeks."

"Oh I'm sorry, Tommy. That sucks."

"Yeah. But because of that, I have been looking for jobs elsewhere. And I am actually staying up here in Vancouver for a couple more days because I have an interview at a university here to be a part-time professor starting in the fall."

"Wow," Kim said. "That is awesome, congratulations."

"Don't congratulate me yet," Tommy chuckled. "I don't want to jinx anything."

"Right, of course. Sorry."

"No don't be. Anyway, if I do get the job, I will still need to find another job for financial security. My question is, would you be ok with Jason hiring me as a part-time karate instructor?"

Kim's eyes widened. "Would I mind? Uh… why does it matter if I mind or not?"

Tommy gave a little shrug as Kim put the pieces together.

"Jason made you ask me, didn't he?" Kim asked, crossing her arms.

Tommy shrugged again and smiled at her. "Yeah, he did. He said he wanted to make sure you were ok with the possibility of running into me whenever you came to the dojo."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Tell Jason that I said that while I appreciate his concern, who he hires is up to him, not me, and that he does not need to protect me from everything."

Tommy chuckled. "Ok, I will."

"I'm sorry Jason made you come all the way here for that," Kim said. "He has been protecting me for so long that I don't think he knows how to stop."

"No worries, I thought it was sweet that he made me check with you."

There was an awkward silence.

"So, uh, I should probably go. But I'll see you tomorrow with everyone else, and I will definitely see you around if I get the job." Tommy said.

"I hope you do get it. You deserve it."

"Thank you, I appreciate it." Tommy smiled. "If I do and end up moving up here, would you maybe want to get coffee sometime? Just to get to know each other again? To start over and be friends?"

Kim smiled. "I'd like that."

Tommy smiled right back. "Cool. Well, see you tomorrow."

Tommy turned away and headed towards the staircase. Kim started to close the door but then pulled it back open and stuck her head out.

"Hey Tommy?" Kim called out.

Tommy spun back around.

"Just for the record, I don't mind the possibility of running into you whenever I visit the dojo. I quite like it, actually," Kim said.

Tommy grinned at her. "Me too."

Kim smiled back. "Night."

"Night," Tommy responded. He turned around and headed down the stairs.

Kim stared after him for a moment before closing her door, leaving her with more hope for the future than she's had in a long time.

A/N Hi! It's finally done! So I am really not good with endings so sorry if you think it's weird. I just wanted there to be a scene where there was hope for Tommy and Kim to get back together because I love them and they are one of my favorite ranger couples and a big part of why I even wrote this story.

Thank you all for staying with me for so long. I hope you enjoyed the story!


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